High severity · published Sep 14, 2026
CVE-2026-54156
node-opcua: Unbounded nonce cache enables unauthenticated heap exhaustion DoS
7.5
CVSS
0.8%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
node-opcua is an OPC UA implementation for TypeScript and Node.js. Prior to 2.166.0, the process-global g_alreadyUsedNonce cache used by nonceAlreadyBeenUsed in packages/node-opcua-secure-channel/source/server/server_secure_channel_layer.ts records nonces from OpenSecureChannelRequest and CreateSession without expiration or a size limit. An unauthenticated remote attacker can repeatedly create sessions with unique nonces, causing entries to persist after session expiry and accumulate across connection cycles even when maxSessions=10 limits concurrent sessions. The resulting unbounded heap growth can exhaust the default Node.js heap and crash the node-opcua server process. This issue is fixed in version 2.166.0.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.8% · higher than 56% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
NO
node-opcua · node-opcua
< 2.166.0 · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54156
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-54156
github.com
https://github.com/node-opcua/node-opcua/commit/b82c2939fe9c658de58da993f2798ec5481d7313
github.com
https://github.com/node-opcua/node-opcua/releases/tag/v2.166.0
github.com
https://github.com/node-opcua/node-opcua/security/advisories/GHSA-6wvw-vrw4-363w
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